Village blacksmith creates new screen for Ely Cathedral (From Gazette & Herald)

Chris Topp & Company, of Tholthorpe, near Easingwold, creates new screen for Ely Cathedral

8:20am Wednesday 9th March 2011 in News By Julie Hayes, Business editor

A traditional blacksmith’s firm which rolls wrought iron in Tholthorpe, near Easingwold, has created a new screen for a Norman cathedral.

The-five metre by five- metre wrought-iron screen, called a reredos, is the largest piece of elaborate ecclesiastical wrought-iron work created, by Chris Topp & Company, in its 30-year history.

Director Chris Topp said: “We are proud to think that our new screen could remain in Ely Cathedral for centuries.

“It has been a privilege for my company to have been commissioned to undertake this work and an honour for the talented group of traditional blacksmiths working with me.”

The company’s traditional craftsmen regularly restore ancient works of wrought iron in cathedrals and buildings such as the Houses of Parliament, he said, but rarely is it commissioned to create a new work of art for such a place.

The reredos now stands behind the altar in the Cambridgeshire cathedral’s Lady Chapel.

It sits under the large main east window and Chris Topp & Company is now working on an altar table and candle standards.

The screen was designed by John Maddison, a Cambridgeshire-based artist and expert on medieval architecture.

He said: “I was pleased to recommend Chris Topp for the commission of this intricate construction because I have worked with him before and am an admirer of the quality and skill of his team.

“Chris is very experienced in this field and brings his own personal contribution to the finished product.”

The business scours the world for ancient wrought iron that can be re-rolled and this screen was previously part of large chains raised from the seabed of the former Gibraltar naval dockyard.

The work has been done in traditional style, using wedges on joints rather than electric welding of joints.